LEGAL EAGLE: The housing matters still covered by legal aid funding

In 2012 a new law meant there were changes to the types of housing matters that legal advisors could assist clients with while being funded under legal aid.

There has been some confusion about the types of housing matters that are still dealt with under legal aid, so here we have detailed the types of cases we can still assist you with:

1. If you are at risk of losing your rented home we should certainly be able to assist you.

This includes from when you first receive a Notice of Seeking Possession, to being served with possession proceedings which are before the county court, to receiving a warrant of eviction.

Normally this has occurred due to rent arrears or anti-social behaviour.

We can assist with both private rented and public sector housing.

There may also be instances whereby a Possession Order has already been made against you and we can assist in setting the Order aside if there are sufficient grounds.

2. If you own your home and are at risk of losing ownership of it, you will need to ring the telephone gateway service provided by Civil Legal Advice on 0345 345 4345, who will assess your case and if appropriate refer you to a legal advisor.

3. If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness we can advise and assist you in respect of homelessness decisions, eligibility and the allocation of accommodation by the Local Authority.

4. If there is disrepair in your property which is a serious risk of harm to your health or safety or the health or safety of a member of your family, then it is likely that we will be able to assist you in taking action to remedy the disrepair.

5. If you have been unlawfully evicted from your property (i.e. if your Landlord has evicted you without following the correct procedures) or there is a reasonably alleged threat of you being unlawfully evicted, we can assist you in taking action against your Landlord and in some circumstances it may be possible to claim damages from your Landlord.

6. If an application for an Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction has been made against you, we can assist you in defending the injunction.

7. If you live in a rented or leased property and are the victim of harassment in your home, we can assist you in taking action to stop the harassment taking place.